When You Know
by BuddyLee
Summary: A oneshot based on what happens directly after the war between Ron and Hermione and them dealing with the loss of family.


_**A/N: **_**This is a one shot dedicated to WildForWeasley for having made the most posts in the month of October on our R.P. Forum forum/The_Return_to_Hogwarts/115708/. Feel free to come join us and get your groove on with the R. universe. Don't worry if you've never done it before its not that hard and we are more than willing to teach!**

As Ron stood there staring down at his brothers tombstone he couldn't help but think of all the times they had spent together running around the Burrow as kids. The thought of him, Fred, and George always playing tricks on Percy for being such a twit brought a slow creeping smile to his lips. Hearing leaves crunch behind him he quickly drew his wand and spun around to find Hermione standing with her hands in her sweater vest looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Paranoid much?" She asked him while she slowly walked up and stood beside him.

"Well you know…..after everything that's happened and since we're still trying to round up the rest of the missing Death Eaters, I'm still looking over my shoulder. Where'd you come from?" He asked his eye returning to the headstone below him.

"I went back to the Burrow and when mo- …. said you hadn't come home yet I thought you might be here." She replied quickly not looking at Ron.

"I just came to say goodbye one last time. I'm really gonna miss…..the times we had together." He said.

Hermione stood there in the cold next to Ron trying to think of some way to comfort him and feeling like a failure when she could come up with nothing. What could she possibly say? She had no siblings and hadn't lost anyone in the war. Feeling helpless she did the only thing she could think of and stepping closer to him wrapped her arm in his and leaned her head on his shoulder and stood silently just hoping that her presence would provide some support and comfort.

"You know I just never saw this coming. After all we had done. After all we had survived to turn and lose him….I just don't know how things will ever be the same. I've come to expect hearing him calling out over the crowd "Ronniekins! Oh Ronniekins!" and embarrassing the hell out of me, and…and now its never going to happen again." He said through shaking breaths as he felt the anger wash over him at his loss. Feeling the tears beginning to stream down his cheeks Ron quickly turned his face away from Hermione so as not to appear weak in front of her. He had finally just gotten her and didn't want her to think that he was nothing but a crybaby.

"Hey, hey, come here. It's ok. It's not your fault. There's no way you could have known this was going to happen. None of us could. Now we just have to pick up the pieces and put the puzzle back together. It's not that hard. We just don't give up. We keep moving forward. Right?" She asked as she slowly wrapped her arms and standing up on her toes she did the most romantic thing she could think of at the moment and kissed his tears away. The salt on her lips was a familiar taste after all the tears she had cried over him while he was with Lavender. Dropping back down, she looked up into his brown eyes and saw a fierce burning emotion there that she couldn't quite place. "What? What is it Ron?" She asked surprised at his sudden fierceness.

"This has proved something to me, something so true that I can't avoid it anymore. I thought before we had time but this proved to me that life really is too short. That I can't sit here wasting away and end up like him. Having so much he wanted to do and having to put it on hold for the rest of the world. I won't do it anymore. I won't wait any longer." Ron ranted the steam coming from his breath in the cold air.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked stepping back looking at him quizzically.

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. Pulling off the ribbon he slowly knelt in front of Hermione and opened the box revealing a gold ring with a small diamond in the middle and two rubies on either side of it, a lion's heads holding them in place.

"I don't know how long I've got left in this world Hermione but I won't live another minute in it without know that your mine to hold forever. Please say you'll be mine because I realized that when you decide you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start right now. Hermione Granger, will you marry me?" Ron asked looking into her brown eyes that so clearly matched his own begging her for an answer.

Surprising both herself and him by kneeling down on the ground with him she wrapped her hands around his and leaning in slowly kissed his tear stained lips. "We'll name them the same. When the children come, we'll name them the same." She said smiling. Reaching down with her right hand she slowly withdrew it from the box and slipped it on to her finger.

Smiling Ron dropped the box on the ground and pulled her into a tight embrace. Holding her close he could smell her perfume and it filled him with a burst of happiness the equivalent of…..well there was no comparison because this truly was the happiest moment of his life. Standing, he intertwined his fingers with hers feeling the cold metal of the band pressing into his skin he smiled at the thought of seeing it on her finger for years to come. They turned and slowly began to walk down the hill back toward the road. Just as the turned on the spot to disapparate Ron could just catch a glimpse of the writing on the headstone one last time before they disappeared:

"Here they lie,

Two brothers twin,

With smiles sly."

Fred Weasley George Weasley


End file.
